Age Group Awards 2024 – Boys’ Development sides
The second part of our focus on the Shropshire County Age Group Awards looks at the Boys County Development sides.
This features our youngest boys’ sides – the Under 11s, 12s and 13s, again with awards for batting, bowling and a Coaches’ Award in each age group.
The awards were handed out last month at a special ceremony held at Prestfelde School in Shrewsbury.
UNDER 11s
Coach Sam Roberts said: “Our youngest squad enjoyed their Winter sessions, getting to know each other and developing key skills and having fun.”
After a couple of early-season T20 wins over North Wales and a strong performance in victory over Warwickshire, the squad were then involved in the Shrewsbury School Festival in the Summer.
Sam said: “We managed two wins from our six games with two extremely narrow losses against Staffs and The Grange. That meant we unfortunately missed out on our aim of four wins, but I was extremely proud of the team’s determination and efforts throughout.”
Batting – Kyle Rudge
Kyle is an extremely talented cricketer for such a young age, contributing at different batting positions throughout the season. He finished as the top run scorer, with great innings against The Grange and Staffordshire, but the best was an 83 not out in a 10-wicket win against Warwickshire.
Bowling – Jamie Chambers
Jammie is an extremely skilful bowler, especially with the old ball. Batters struggle to play against his in-swing bowling and he ended up with the wickets and statistics to show for it. His best bowing figures were 5-17 against West Wales.
Coaches’ Award – Ed Martin
Ed was a pleasure to coach all season. His attitude in all training sessions and matches was excellent, constantly wanting to improve on all areas of his game. This hard work and effort were particularly demonstrated at the Shrewsbury Festival and the fixture against Derbyshire at Allscott where he took three excellent catches, showing the improvement in his fielding in particular. Alongside this, his responsible and sensible manner shone through at all times on and off the field when representing Shropshire.
UNDER 12s
Coach Sam Whitney said: “The new boys settled in quickly and contributed throughout the season. At the Shrewsbury Festival, they finished fourth with only First Class counties above them.
He said: “The festival included a superb display in the field against G Force Dubai and knocking off the target four down. Noah Quin’s two partnerships with Josh Hulland & Josh Ainsworth to win against South Wales was my highlight of the season.
“Special mention also to Morgan Thompson for his 90 against Hereford and Noah who made his maiden Shropshire half century against South Wales.”
Batting – Reuben Kundu
Reuben’s a role model to his team-mates. The festival week was a turning point for him, showing he can do it at county level, a week he will never forget.
Bowling – Rufus Davies
This award is not just about Rufus being the leading wicket taker, he bowls the tough overs, never backs down from a challenge and steps up in big moments. Great to have on your team, good cricket brain and match-winner.
Coaches’ Award – Noah Quin
Noah won games with the bat, ball and in the field. He gets on with things, he’s a smart cricketer and big part of the team. He’s quiet going about his business, but has star quality.
UNDER 13s
Batting – Harry Harrison
Harry scored 371 runs, the most in the squad, going past 50 on four occasions and averaging 33.73. No ducks in 11 innings while batting in the top three exhibits consistency. He goes about accumulating his runs in a brisk manner, always looking to score quickly and he has a taste for boundaries and the power to score maximums. In the last match of the season, he stood at the non-strikers end for the first over against Worcestershire and witnessed the opening bowler take a hat-trick. Yet he still got his head down and led the recovery top scoring with 63. Well batted Harry.
Bowling – Ralph Davies
Ralph took the most wickets (15) and bowled the most overs (71). Every team should value a spinner that can hold down one end, keep the runs in-check, get through the middle-overs, and chip in with some wickets too. Ralph does all this.
Coaches’ Award – George Jenkins and Sayak Mukuerjee
Much thought and debate went in to this award. All the boys have shown keen intent and a willingness to work hard and take advice on-board. Several can claim to have made match-defining contributions throughout the summer, either with bat, ball, or brilliance in the field. We whittled it down to two players. George scored 275 runs and topped the batting averages at 45.83 with a top score of 90 not-out at the Taunton Festival. Sayak, a seam bowler often taking the new-ball to great effec,t taking 10 wickets at 20.1 apiece.
Pictures courtesy of Brian Clarke from Kidzinfocus – brian.clarke@kidszinfocus.co.uk